Master Of None

Chapter 2884: 2884. Crafting Potions

”You asked me to make poison and I made poison. I see no issues with it.” The annoyed tone of Remey had been consistent. She was sitting with a group of crafters. Some were blacksmiths, some were construction workers. However, they were all looking at her like she had just failed in the most recent potion she had made.

”I used the venom of a brown sand serpent, the blue powder daisies, and the green musrhcoom cap. It is all part of the ingredients you normally mix in to the metal to ensure that it is resistant to both water and the rust ants you said try to eat at the metal.”

She had no clue why she was being criticized for what she had made. She had been asked for this exact thing. ”You wanted a mixture of the components you used to protect metal structures and this is what I made you.”

”You condensed it! It’s three times more dangerous to use now!” One of the worker’s faces turned red and he pointed out that Remey even had to use a cork made from specific materials to keep the potion from spilling out after degrading the normal cork.

”We can’t have anyone working under us use that. It would make the entire area too toxic for at least the entire day after and during painting that on. We can’t lose time like that.”

”And tell me, what do you do when you coat all of the metal in this in the first place? You sued all of these in larger amounts and risked everyone already. So what’s the difference now?”

The tone seemed to be be aksing what they would do about it if what she made was actually more dangerous. Then again, they also knew that Remey was the one helping them with what they had asked to assist them in their work. They had to show a little bit more logic compared to what they were doing.

”The point is, this will kill people more easily and faster. We can’t train everyone to have better poison or venom resistances just to handle this themselves.” Case in point, it was the lack of people that could utilize this more concentrated potion in crafting.

So yes, she had succeeded in making something better, but she has also made it more dangerous to use.

”You all use open flames, toxic remnants from the processes of your crafts. So where is the line drawn? For your own work? Or when you have the less experienced workers using something?” She looked at all of them carefully, ”and why can’t you have a trained specialist use this as a concentrated potion and dilute it to easily paint it on to the metal? And why can’t they wear protective clothing and suits with runes or use potions to counter these risks?”

She had them there. Not a single one of the craftsmen had realized that Remey was making something that could be diluted just as the highest rankings of potions were. They had assumed this was a ready to use potion for their metal working in building and that was that.

”I hear the sound of Remey getting along with everyone in here.” Walker opened the door, which was more like a flap of fabric because of the temporary state of this building.

”They are getting their heads all jumbled because they aren’t seeing the full scale of what potions I made them. They asked for solutions and I found a lot of them.” Remey’s smirk was one that told Walker she had made several potions and not just this one he had heard the end of when he approached.

”I have this one, it’s oils from seeds we would normally eat. The seeds are crushed and I take the oils and mix them at a certain ratio. The excess is used to be sold for food products, but the oil helps protect wood and it actually attracts silver bees. That helps farmers who build a lot of drying racks out of wood.”

The reason this potion had come up was because there was a farming aspect to the academy. Therefore, building drying racks would be necessary and knowing how to treat them would need to be taught. Using her potion would make it last longer so they needed to be built less often from scratch.

”And that little green potion there?”

”That’s for the beast tamers and their underwater building. If you dip your softer leather tools in it, it prevents water from soaking in to them. It also has certain herbs that repel some monsters that might just want to take a bite out of tamers and crafters working in the water.” She seemed very happy with her success and it left Walker wondering why he even thought to come here.

She didn’t appear to need any help at all.

”I believe you have done a lot here. But I still think it is important to bring up protective equipment. If the crafters are going to use more dangerous potions, it gives me an idea about those options and how they are being labeled.”

For the time being, labels were simple. But for crafting potions, he understood some might look similar and there might need to be even more to it.

”You are behind on that sir hero. We as crafters have already copied what the healers are doing. Labels with instructions and risks are already being made for potions like this. We just need the potions to be a little safer to start with.” The crafter was respectful for the most part, but it was also clear that they had been at this for quite a few hours so far.

”That sounds like a good practice, I am glad to be behind then.” It sort of felt good hearing that the crafters and healers respectively had already solved a potential future problem.

”We used to use the wax from the saber wasp to help seal some tools that would encounter corrosive materials, but we haven’t been able to produce a better option for that. There is a lot of waste in using it and that’s the next challenge.” Remey pulled out a few papers showing the process that the crafter was explaining.

From what Walker could see, the best harvested form the saber wasp was full of this wax. It was nothing like honey bee wax, this was a deep black color that would help resist greater heat, water, and also the decay of time to some degree. Hence it was ideal for making new tools.

The issue was that one small hive of saber wasps only allowed for a few vials of the wax to be extracted because most of it was ruined by the other things used to make the nests themselves. Hence a lot of waste leaving the crafters at a loss and often just accepting that they would use inferior products.

”That’s why you and I are going to harvest a nest of them and we will see what we can do about extracting that wax with alchemy. We might be able to get five times the wax and lower the price while using the remnants for other things.” Remey was already dragging Walker outside so that they could handle this. The crafters began to talk about how they might have tools that lasted longer if they succeeded in this.

”I didn’t think we would be going hunting for saber wasps.” The monster was a nuisance, but served a purpose.

They would often show up around the forest and farms searching for insects and other monsters of similar sizes to eat. They would also bother farmers and steal pieces of their crop when there was not enough food. But most of all, they would patrol the area around their nest and attack other monsters that neared it, making it annoying for farmers to pay to have them removed.

Regardless, they would consume the pest monsters that would get at crops making them a useful monster to take up residence for at least a couple of weeks before they became the problem themselves.

”I take it you knew that this was coming?” Walker saw that Remey was grinning with all the tells he had expected. She was waiting to experiment with this after succeeding elsewhere. She just felt that it would be better saved for last since she might get to do a little fighting.

The best for last they say.

”So, where is the nest and how much trouble have these saber wasps been causing lately?”

”Well, it’s near one of the roads being repaired and expanded. And the workers put in the request for help last week. We just can be the first to get to it. Plus we will save some cost because the Genesis alliance won’t be putting up a quest for it.”

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Repent now and go here,

Drop those golden tickets!